Onion (Bacon) Jam

Have you ever had one of those periods in your life where you couldn't identify a solitary specific thing which is out of the ordinary, yet somehow life takes over and you're suddenly much more busy than you were before? Don't blink, or suddenly you'll lose a month (as if time itself was one of the Weeping Angels)! I've been meaning to share this onion jam with you for that long.

Whatever you do, don't blink...

That's what happened to me this month; life. Hubby came home from sea (finally) and I suppose just the novelty of having him around distracted me.

And technically not nothing was different... A couple of weeks ago we were told by the powers that be to be ready to move to another province. Within a month. If you/ your significant other is considering the army, rest assured, this is not typical. Most military moves are at the same time of year and have a fairly predictable timeline. This was a special "emergency" and we're just lucky I guess.

 
We immediately flew into a tizzy of trying to get our house ready to potentially sell it quickly. And we're pack rats, so this is a BIG job. Suffice it to say the local youth charity got at least six bags of clothing, shoes, linens etc out of the deal. And we're not even close to finished yet!

Then the wind was taken out of our sails and we were told to cool it, the budget has not been approved. So are we moving or not?

No idea...

If we are, the timeline is getting shorter and shorter while we wait for confirmation. Yay!

mmmmmm... bacon...

So in the meantime, I'm sharing with you a recipe that is so simple I can't even call it a recipe. It's more of a ratio. Multiply or divide it as you please. Add in whatever strikes your fancy. Today I'm showing you how to make it with bacon because, well, why not (and also because I tried a bacon marmalade a couple of months ago that I was expecting to taste like this, but it was far too, well, marmalade-y for my tastes, so I had to fix it)? But more often than not I leave the bacon out. And just about any chopped fresh herbs or orange zest would be awesome in here too, or sweet grape tomatoes, or some garlic for an added savoury note. The options go on and on.

This is the face I get when chopping bacon

And it goes with practically anything: as a condiment with breakfast; spread on any type of sandwich; in salad dressings; anywhere you would otherwise use caramelized onions; and I haven't done it yet, but I suspect it would make a great compote on a cheese plate. With a nice double-cream brie or a tart, velvety chevre...

I got the (completely un-new I'm sure) idea for this jam from, you guessed it, The Coastal. Their McCoastal sandwich had to be recreated at home, obviously, so after some reading, and fiddling (and lots and lots of eating) I settled on this.

I've already converted many others to this addiction, most notably my hysterically funny, beautiful, and crazy friend Teisha.

This is a woman who, when we were in high school and my mom and I would cook something delicious, Teisha would tell me that she and her mom also make home-made cookies, but by home-made they mean bought-store...

Through university I'm fairly certain that Teisha alone kept the pizza place down the street from her house in business, and I couldn't tell you if there were any cooking implements in her kitchen at all.

Over the years since then, Teisha has been a dark horse, suddenly becoming a really great cook with more than a few "specialties" to her name.

This summer Teisha came to visit me with another lovely, Jennifer.



While they were here I took them to The Coastal (obviously) but I also made a few other dishes with my onion jam at home. And to say Teisha became obsessed would be an understatement. When she got back home she immediately started making the stuff, and I think has made at least two or three batches a month since then (often texting me to share the variations she's made with each batch)!

This recipe is really easy to make on a whim when needed, but if you wanted to make a giant batch I think it would do well canning (although I highly recommend you research technique sine I am very new to canning and know next to nothing). I also think it would freeze well, but it has never lasted long enough in our house to find out.

Onion (Bacon) Jam

Yield: about 1/2 cup of finished jam per onion

Ingredients:
1/2 lb quality, thick-cut bacon, chopped (optional)
(1 tbsp butter, if you're not using bacon - oil would also work for a vegan option)
one large onion, chopped (I use Spanish or Vidalia onions, but whatever strikes your fancy)
1 tbsp brown sugar
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup port*

Directions:

1. In a wide pot or deep frying pan with a lid over med-lo heat, render the bacon. When at least half the fat has rendered, pour it off and increase the heat to med-high. (Skip to step 3 if not using bacon)
2. Cook bacon until crispy then drain on paper towel; return pan to the heat and add back 1 tbsp of the bacon drippings.
3. (If you're not using the bacon, heat butter over med-high heat until melted; bonus points if you brown the butter first.) Add in onion and brown sugar, and stir to coat.
4. Allow the onions to soften, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes or until they have released all their liquid. Stir in a pinch of salt.
5. Deglaze the pan with the port, scraping up any pits from the pan.
6. Reduce heat immediately to low and cover the pot. Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is reduced and the onions are super soft; this should take about 40 minutes but you can uncover the pan to allow more evaporation if you need to speed things up, but the onions won't be as buttery soft.
7. Add back in the chopped bacon and stir together. Store in an airtight container, about a week and a half in the fridge, if it lasts that long.

Notes:
- The dice on your onions will affect the final texture; although the onions will still be soft and delicate, you will have a more chunky texture if you cut them that way. I prefer my jam to be super-spreadable so I dice my onions very finely.
- When multiplying the recipe, it will often take much longer for all the liquid to thicken - use the widest pot or pan you can.
- Like everything in this recipe, the port is highly substitutable. You could also deglaze with red wine, soup stock, water (although this is boring to me), or another completely different flavour, like apple cider (but I would cut out the sugar in this case). Hubby is very particular that I use a deep red port so that's what is usually in mine...
- If you are using the bacon, I recommend a thick-cut because otherwise you'll have very sad, anemic pieces of bacon floating around. If you prefer to chop the bacon after cooking (or if you have leftovers from breakfast I don't understand) do so, I just have an ineptitude when it comes to cooking bacon in strips and have to do it in the oven.
- If you're adding any fresh herbs, probably about 1 tbsp per onion would suffice. I would add in half while caramelizing the onion but save half to add closer to the end, conserving some of the fresh flavour.